Angela Lansbury Was Ready to Do Anything for Stepson Who Was by Her Side When They Lived ‘On a Knife Edge’

• Angela Lansbury welcomed her stepson, David Shaw like her own child.
• Lansbury almost lost her teenage children so she quit her acting career for a while.
• Her stepson loved her very much and supported her when his siblings were suffering.
• Angela Lansbury’s three children are emotional after mom’s death at 96.

Angela Lansbury, the actress from the series “Murder, she wrote,” passed on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, at 96 years old. Her children announced that she died peacefully in her sleep in her Los Angeles home.

Lansbury was a hardworking actress who kept her career alive for almost eight decades. She got a breakthrough role in the film “Gaslight” which also earned her first academy award nomination.

Angela Lansbury at the Gold Globe Awards in 1990. | Source: Getty Images

However, Lansbury received many more awards in her long acting career, which she started in the 1940s when she moved from London to Los Angeles. According to Closer Weekly, the actress is a five-time Tony Award and Golden Globe winner.

Though the actress was passionate about acting, she still valued her family and did what she could to ensure her children were happy and cared for.

Lansbury Revealed Her Mistakes as a Mother

When Lansbury was 19 years old and fresh on the acting scene, she married Richard Cromwell in 1945. He was 15 years older than her and worked as an actor.

Angela Lansbury on “Murder she Wrote” in 1992. | Source: Getty Images

The marriage only lasted one year, but shortly after the divorce, Lansbury met Peter Shaw, the man she ended up building a life with.

Shaw and Lansbury married in 1949. Her husband had a child from his previous relationship, David, but the actress took him in as one of her own.

The couple also welcomed two children together. Their firstborn, Anthony, was born in 1952, and their daughter, Deidre, arrived in 1953.

Angela Lansbury and Peter Shaw with their son Anthony in New York, 1979. | Source: Getty Images

In an exclusive interview with Closer Weekly, David praised his stepmother for being family orientated and said she was “a great lady.” David also emphasized that Lansbury did not just take him in for the sake of it, but she treated him like her child.

However, Lansbury was also honest about some of the difficult decisions she made for her career that left her children neglected. The actress told The Daily Mail that right after giving birth to her two children, she went on a diet and returned to work.

Angela Lansbury with her children Anthony and Deidre at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in 1969. | Source: Getty Images

This a decision that Lansbury said she regretted because “you have to be with your children,” the actress said. Nonetheless, Lansbury had a husband that loved and supported her; most importantly, Shaw worked as an agent in Hollywood, so he understood the intensity of the industry.

The actress did not fail to give her husband credit for holding down the fort while she filmed movies in Paris for 12 weeks. Lansbury and her husband both worked hard for the life they created.

The couple owned a beachfront house in Malibu, and David revealed that his father would often not go to work to be with them.

Angela Lansbury with her husband Peter Shaw in London 1990. | Source: Getty Images

David also expressed that it made Lansbury feel guilty and said the actress blamed herself for her children’s addition. But she was determined to ensure her children were healthy even if it meant putting her career on hold.

How Angela Lansbury Helped Her Teenage Children Overcome Addiction

As a mother, it was difficult for Lansbury to see her children suffer. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the actress confessed that between 1965 and 1969, her children Anthony and Deidre “lived on heroin.”

Angela Lansbury in Canada 1971. | Source: Getty Images

The actress revealed that her children were hospitalized due to their heroin addiction and expressed that nothing seemed to help them despite the frequent doctor visits.

Lansbury said Anthony and Deidre were around 15 years old when they started using. She felt helpless, but when her Malibu house was affected by forest fires, she took that as a sign to move her family to a different country.

The actress chose to live in her mother’s birth country Ireland. She found a house in Country Cork and thought it would be a therapeutic environment for her kids and a place where drugs are not easily accessible, stated the Daily Mail.

Angela Lansbury in New York 2015. | Source: Getty Images

During all this turbulence, Lansbury had her stepson, David, by her side. David told The Sydney Morning Herald that some days they thought one of them would not make it out alive. “We were living in a knife edge every day,” said David.

Fortunately for the actress, the move saved her children’s life. Lansbury told the Daily Mail that Anthony immediately showed signs of improvement. Deidre took some time, but she also conquered.

Where Are Angela Lansbury’s Children Now?

Lansbury’s children overcame a challenging obstacle in their lives, but now they have grown with families and have built successful careers.

In her exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Lansbury revealed that Anthony, now 70 is a retired TV director. He worked on a few films and directed 68 episodes of “Murder, she wrote.”

Anthony is also married and is a father to three children, two sons, and a daughter. David also followed in her father’s footsteps.

Angela Lansbury and her step son David Shaw speaking to guests in Brentwood, California 2003. | Source: Getty Images

David became the president of his father’s production company, Corymore Productions. According to Closer Weekly, David led the company to huge success and signed a deal with Universal Television.

While her brothers chose the entertainment industry, Deidre decided on hospitality. She married Enzo Battara, and they own an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles called Enzo and Angela.

David revealed that in the last stages of her life, Lansbury was even more immersed in her family. He said all she wanted to do was spend time with her grandchildren and loved being a grandmother more than anything.